The present invention is directed to a contactless communication device having plurality of contactless interfaces, and more specifically, to a contactless communication device having an interface configured to provide power and an interface configured to provide high speed data communication.
The basic components of a contactless card system are a contactless reader and the contactless card. The contactless reader, also known as a Phase Coupled Device (PCD), includes an antenna electrically coupled to an electronic circuit. The contactless card, also known as a smart card, a tag, a Proximity Integrated Circuit Chip (PICC), or a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tag, has an inductive antenna and an integrated circuit electrically coupled to the inductive antenna.
When the contactless card penetrates a transmission field of the reader, the reader antenna transmits to the contactless card a carrier signal, which generates a radio frequency field to supply the contactless card with power and data, which is achieved by amplitude modulation of the carrier signal. In return, the contactless card transmits data by load modulating the carrier signal. This load modulated signal is detected by the reader antenna. The communication between the reader and the contactless card may be defined by any of numerous ISO (International Organization for Standardization) standards, such as 14443 Type A/B/C, 15693, 18000, etc.
The ISO communications mentioned above are limited to data communication at speeds of 848 kBit/s, with ongoing specification work for greater than 10 MBit/s. Communication devices built according to these standards are in general radio frequency powered. The carrier transmission field is not only used for data communication, but also for powering the card.
Other standards, such as UHF, WLAN, etc., have higher bit transfer rates. However, the electromagnetic fields of these standards are too weak to power contactless devices in the mA range.